Jill Ellis

“I have a tremendous staff around me. It's a really good family vibe in terms of our environment.”

“Coaches understand that pressure is part of the rush of coaching. The challenge of trying to outplay your opponent is part of the fun, the adrenaline, the preparation, seeing your team evolve. It's why coaches become coaches.”

“I never thought I'd end up coaching. It wasn't the plan.”

“Every game you play, you gain. There's always valuable lessons.”

“I have a lot of fond memories of my life in England.”

“I love pace. I love it.”

“Why have a rule if you're not going to enforce it?”

“I think every time I'm with the team, even in a World Cup, as a coach, you're constantly evaluating.”

“It's easy for a player to stand out in two or three days. But the grind of a camp, and just the level of consistency in performance that requires, that needs to happen.”

“Ultimately, we've got to make sure our players understand that the margin for error is very small against these top teams in the world, and we've been punished several times for that.”

“I had zero opportunity to play football over the years.”

“Little things that I've emphasized are turning in pockets and looking to penetrate and finding these spaces and playing at a good tempo when we're in the middle third.”

“When I used to recruit in college, my sole job was to out-recruit what I had. And if I did that, I knew we would grow and be successful.”

“I think people get hung up on starters and 11s, and that number kind of rings through a lot of media's heads.”

“If I walk into a room, I'm quite content to sit in the corner and chat with people who walk by. But coaching forced me to come out of my shell.”

“These countries - Spain, France, Germany - have environments that are really geared toward the professional player.”

“I don't have to talk about critics - I don't care.”

“I can truly say this: I don't care, and I've never really read what people thought.”

“I think that's how it has to be in a tournament format. You can't dwell on games.”